Our intrepid AAS Secondary School students explored beautiful Bulgaria this week on their Cultural Trips. A number of students asked their teacher-chaperones if there was any way their adventures away could be extended!

Perhaps you saw them?

Were they in front of you in the queue to taste chocolate at the Plovdiv chocolate museum? (Grade 6 parents I hope you have demanded your share of the wares upon your child’s return!)

Did you arrive at the Golyam and Malak waterfalls after a long hike to discover Grade 7 had beaten you there?

Maybe you overheard Grade 8 laughing as they cooked local, traditional dishes – mostly successfully – in Veliko Tarnovo?

Perhaps you were confused by that orange blur on the Struma River? It was the Grade 9 students whizzing by in their life jackets, working together to navigate their raft through the rapids.

Did you wonder at the bravery of the rock climbers you saw in Borovets? That was Grade 10 learning to belay for one another.

If you were at the Black Sea coast you may have seen Grade 11 students constructing their own rafts, some of which stayed afloat. And you definitely would have been kept awake by the joyous – if out-of-tune – Katy Perry karaoke.

If you happened to be on Vitosha then you might have bumped into Grade 12 students conducting science experiments to learn more about the mountain’s fragile ecosystem.

The students had a wide variety of adventures this year. However they shared similar, sleepy sentiments on the bus journeys home: I tried something new; I overcame my fears; I forged (or strengthened) friendships; and we made some forever memories together.

Well done Secondary School!

Mr. Bannister

HS/MS Dean of Students